Partial Take-Profits and Smart Stop Trailing: The Correct Setup

The Premium Trade Manager can bank profit in stages while a structural trail protects the rest of the position. Set up correctly, the combination takes risk off the table early and still gives the trade room to run. This guide walks through the exact settings and the pitfalls we see most often.

The idea

Partial take-profits are predefined exits: at each level, a share of the position is closed. Smart Stop trailing moves your stop-loss along the structural levels the market actually respects. Together they answer the two questions every open trade raises: when do I take money off the table, and where does the rest stay protected?

Step 1: Define your partial levels

Under Settings, Trading, Take Profits, switch from a single target to partial take-profits. You can define up to four levels, each with its own R multiple and its own close percentage.

Two things to get right from the start:

  • The percentage decides the share of the position closed at that level. The distance of a level comes from its R multiple alone. Early levels take partial shares, the final level automatically closes whatever remains.
  • Levels measure against the risk you took at entry, meaning your original stop distance. Moving your stop later never changes an R level and never fires a partial. This is guaranteed since version 2.3; older builds measured against the current stop, which could close partials early when you tightened your stop. If you ever saw that, update.

Step 2: Read your plan on the chart

Since version 2.3 every partial level sits on the chart as its own line, labelled with its share, its R multiple, its distance and what it pays in your account currency. You see what your plan is worth without opening a dialog.

Every level is draggable: grab the pill, move it, and R multiple, pips and money update while you drag. A level you moved by hand is pinned to its price and stays there, immune to later stop or settings changes. Click a marker to hide or show its line if the chart gets busy.

The plan belongs to the trade itself: switching symbol or timeframe, restarting the panel or changing settings later leaves the targets of an open trade untouched. Settings only shape new trades.

Step 3: Set Smart Stop as your trailing method

Under Settings, Trailing, choose Smart Stop as the trailing method. The stop then follows the structural pivots the Smart Stop logic reads, instead of trailing at a fixed distance. The logic is built into the Premium Trade Manager, no separate purchase is needed.

Three properties matter for the combination:

  • The trailing has its own timeframe (default M5), independent of the timeframe used for your initial stop.
  • If no valid structural level exists for a while, the stop holds and waits for the next valid pivot. There is no fallback that could tighten your stop unintentionally.
  • Like every trailing method in the tool, it only ever moves the stop in profit direction. A trailed stop is never loosened.

The three settings that keep the combo honest

  1. Leave "TP follows SL" off. Since version 2.3 this coupling is off by default, and for good reason: moving your stop is risk management and should not re-price your targets. Automatic trailing and break-even moves never re-derive targets anyway; only manual stop drags did.
  2. Match the trailing timeframe to your targets. The M5 default suits intraday plans. If your last partial sits at a high R multiple on a slower chart, give the trail a higher timeframe, so that structure rather than noise decides when the trade is done.
  3. Run version 2.3 or later. Two older behaviours are fixed there: partials firing early after a stop tighten, and Step or Break-Even trailing stalling at breakeven instead of stepping on.

Checklist before you hit Execute

  • Risk percent and stop source set
  • Partial levels: R multiple plus share per level, last level takes the remainder
  • Trailing method: Smart Stop, timeframe matching your plan
  • "TP follows SL" off, unless you consciously want the coupling
  • Read the findings card under the Execute button: amber is worth knowing, red is worth stopping for